Take a trip to your local Farmer’s Market
Not to be confused with my earlier post about the Really Really Free Market… A Farmer’s Market usually involves monetary transactions. Sorry, no free food here folks. BUT, you can find better deals than the chain grocery stores that pop up on every busy intersection.
My friends live and work on a farm and needed help this past weekend at their booth at the Farmer’s Market so my partner and I went down to help out. All of their vegetables are organically grown (and I’m sure there are organic farmers in your town too). Not only did I learn a lot about vegetables I’d never seen before, but I was able to interact with members of my community who I wouldn’t normally interact with. It’s a friendlier environment than waiting at a check out line and hearing the scanner beep after each barcode is processed.
While I was working the booth, I overheard so many people commenting about how cheap the produce is compared to the grocery store. Not only that, but it’s all organic too! Another great thing is that, unlike the grocery store, you can actually talk to the person who grew your food and ask questions like “What can I cook/make with this?”Everything is local, so that means cheaper transportation costs which makes the food cheaper for you. We all know about the benefits of eating local, right?
The Farmer’s Market in my town has live music and art vendors also. Depending on your area, your Farmer’s Market might be open everyday. Unfortunately in my town, it is only a weekly occurance happening each Saturday morning from 8am – 1pm.
If your schedule prevents you from attending the Farmer’s Market or if one doesn’t exist near you, many farms also have Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s) that you can subscribe too. Think of it this way, you pay a certain amount of money up front to help fund supplies and then as the plants grow, you get a “share” of the harvest. So it’s kind of like a magazine subscription, except its healthy food! You also may have remembered Jan’s experience in working on a CSA farm. You can find a CSA near you on Local Harvest.
I love our local farmers’ market, and I’m also a big fan of our CSA. We split a share with friends, so our quarterly dues are only $112. We get the bulk of our produce from our CSA share and supplement the rest from trips to the farmers’ market and the occasional trip to the grocery store. (I usually only get bulk dry goods, canned goods, cat food, and soy milk at the grocery store.)
Aside from the affordability factor, I like knowing where my food comes from, as you mentioned. I like talking to the farmers each week. I have my tomato guy at the farmers’ market, and I buy from him each week, even though his tomatoes aren’t as pretty as the other stands. He’s cheaper, and he’s always trying to give me free food. My strawberry lady comes all the way from Oxnard, CA each week to sell the biggest strawberries I’ve ever seen. She swears they’re organic, and I believe her. (Even if I didn’t, who knew that GMO’s could taste so good!) There’s just something so delicious about locally produced food – it’s fresher, and you know it hasn’t burned a bunch of fossil fuels on its way to the grocery store.